


Rough New Start

by Zuzu15



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Boys Kissing, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-25 02:21:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30082023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zuzu15/pseuds/Zuzu15
Summary: Eiji returns to Japan and hears of the death of Ash causing him to loose his ability to speak from the shock.Two years later a stranger moves in next door and Eiji thinks he met him before...
Relationships: Ash Lynx/Okumura Eiji
Kudos: 30





	Rough New Start

Eiji gazed out of the window of the plane completely spaced out. He could hear Ibe-san whispering to him but the words just didn’t reach him. So… Ash didn’t come. Eiji wasn’t sure he would do so but he at least hoped for the best. After the many talks they had about going to Japan together and Eiji teaching Ash a little Japanese (even though they couldn’t do much since they got interrupted soon enough), he still thought that Ash would jump at the request he wrote down in the letter and really come with him. The plane started to move for take off and suddenly another thought came to Eiji’s mind. What if something happened? What if Ash actually wanted to come to him and he got held up?

“Ibe-san! I need to get out!”, he announced all at once. Ibe looked at him for a second: “No way! We are already moving. You can’t. Why would you even?”

Eiji looked around panicking and tugged on his belt. “I want out!”, he screamed.

Other passengers turned to him, some of them actually starting to get nervous, too. A stewardess stood up holding on to a seat next to her to reach for the microphone. Blood was rushing through Eiji’s system so loud that it drowned out her voice entirely. All he knew was that Ibe tried to calm him and ask the stewardess to continue on as planned.

Ibe grabbed his arm all at once and held him down so that Eiji couldn’t move all that much anymore. Even if he was retrained and started to calm down a little Eiji still felt like he was being stabbed over and over with every minute they got further away from the airport and closer to Japan.

As soon as they got out of the plane Eiji hastily looked through his pockets for his phone and turned it on. Right away he dialed the number of Ash’s newest burner phone.

‘…The number you have dialed is not in service…’

Eiji scrolled through his contacts in high speed until he found the number of Sing. He instantly hit ‘call’ and waited. …

“…Yes? Eiji?”, came through the phone after a while. “Sing? I _need_ to know where Ash is! I was _sure_ he would at least give me a call or something after he read my letter!”, Eiji exclaimed. It was silent for a while until Sing answered in a very careful tone: “Eiji, I don’t know how to tell you this… He… Ash is dead.”

It took some time for Eiji to register what he just heard. “He’s WHAT?”, Eiji screamed into the phone. Passerby curiously eyed him. Ibe, who just got their suitcases, came to his side in an instant.

“Yes, Eiji, he was found in the library late at night bleeding out. I have not seen his body yet but there are already several newspapers informing about it.”, Sing answered in a calming manner, “I was just about to make sure that his body is transferred here. I will not let them examine him when there is absolutely no need for that. This would be more than just disrespectful.”

Eiji nodded silently not realizing that Sing couldn’t actually see him.

“See, Eiji, I’m sending you some of those articles and I will tell you what I know when I saw him but I need to go now.”, Sing said.

Eiji nodded again. “Yeah… okay… bye…”, he answered choked up on emotions he couldn’t quite place and ended the call putting his phone back in his pocket.

Ibe guided him out of the building shortly after asking questions about the call but never getting even a word out of Eiji.

The whole point of taking Eiji with him to New York for the article was to improve his mental state but after a few weeks of their return Ibe had to realize that he might have made everything so much worse.

Before Eiji had just refused to get back up on his feet after his accident, now he didn’t speak anymore. After a few more weeks he fully closed himself in. Ibe soon found out that it was all about this Ash they had met and that he died soon after they had left for Japan. Eiji had printed out many articles about the incident. They were scattered all around the apartment. Ibe came to read them at some point since he had to be there on a daily basis to at least get Eiji to eat and shower.

Yesterday Ibe finally got Eiji to get checked out by a doctor. It seems that Eiji has something that is called a psychogenic aphonia. The doctor said that for the patient it’s not about not wanting to communicate but that the vocal folds fail to adduct to the midline during phonation and that the cause is a psychological problem. Sometimes it can go away after a few weeks but it could also take years for that. Eiji refuses to see a therapist still and since there was no other treatment they had to go home without a solution.

After returning to his own apartment Ibe actually got the idea to buy Eiji a design board so that he could at least write down what he wanted. So, when he came to Eiji’s place today he went straight for his room. Eiji sat on the floor surrounded by print-outs of all the photos he took in Manhattan. Granted most of them were of a certain blond.

“Hey, Eiji, look what I got.”, Ibe presented the tablet to him.

Hesitantly Eiji took it and turned it on after a few seconds of eying it.

“I thought you might like something to communicate with and to maybe get busy with something new.”, Ibe explained.

Eiji nodded slightly. After a while he took the pen and started writing. It seemed that he didn’t quite get the hang of it right away but he still tried over and over again. After deleting everything a few times he suddenly turned the tablet around for Ibe to read.

‘Thank you for everything, Ibe-san.’, was written there. Ibe smiled and nodded happily.

Two years went by but still there was no change in Eiji’s state. He still didn’t talk and he still didn’t leave the house. However, he had started to get interested in drawing. What he missed out on photographing he just made up with his artworks. Ibe had never really seen them though because whenever he tried to get a glimpse Eiji turned away with the tablet. Oh yeah, also the tablet he now had was a new one that actually could animate for variety reasons with his drawings and could voice out written words so that Eiji didn’t need to always show what he was writing.

Today, Ibe was once again over at Eiji’s to do his usual check-up when suddenly the doorbell rang. Since the food still needed to simmer on low flame for some time Ibe had enough time to go to the door without turning everything off. The person standing there was easily recognized by Ibe as one of Eiji’s neighbors. He lived next door to the right and the name on the plate was Maname if Ibe remembered correctly.

“Hello, Ibe-san.”, he said, “Sorry for disturbing you. I actually wanted to ask if you have seen the new guy that moved in the apartment on the left of this one. It seems that he is a foreigner and I am not good with speaking English at all but I wanted to ask him if he needs anything. Could you maybe come with me for a second?”

Ibe looked back to Eiji’s room. Then he nodded and said that he could afford a few minutes. He called out to Eiji that he would be right back and followed Maname-san outside.

The apartment on the left was much bigger than the others Ibe noticed when they walked over. Usually, the doors were exactly as far away on one side and on the other. Eiji’s apartment, the number 211, was as far away from the 213 (Maname-san’s apartment) as all the others but somehow it seemed that a number has been missing until 212 came into view. Maname informed him that 212 was a luxurious double apartment and that he was quite surprised to see only one person walk in so he guessed that that guy really was a single person living in that big apartment from now on.

Upon arrival, Ibe rang the doorbell and they waited. After a few minutes they wanted to tun back when the door opened all at once.

“Yes?”, questioned a tall and lean guy with long black hair and blue eyes.

Ibe was stunned for a second until he found his voice again: “Hello. My name is Ibe and this is Maname. We wanted to welcome you to your new home and ask if you needed anything.”

The guy on the other side seemed to think for a minute and then answered carefully: “Thank you very much. I see, Japan really is something else, you are all very friendly. I’m Yamiyoi and I actually don’t need anything at the moment.”

Ibe translated everything to Maname for a second before turning back to the man named Yamiyoi: “In case anything comes up you can always come over to apartment 211. If I am available, I am very glad to help, Yamiyoi-san.”

Yamiyoi thanked Ibe again and they said their goodbyes. Somehow Ibe had the feeling he met this person before and he knew that voice.

A few days later Eiji was alone at home when the doorbell rang. Confused that Ibe didn’t just use the key he had Eiji went over to the door and opened it. Instantly he closed it again upon seeing the guy in the doorway. That wasn’t Ibe. Usually that wouldn’t be a problem, he still signed for his packages himself and he also had some people over sometimes that he most of the time didn’t really know and Ibe brought with him to get him to socialize again.

This guy he didn’t know but he was sure that he did somehow at the same time. Not only that but his heart started beating faster and he got his hopes up that it really was the person he thought it was.

The doorbell rang again.

“Come on, let me in already, Eiji!”, came through the door. Eiji knew this voice! This couldn’t be his imagination.

Eiji opened the door again and stepped back. In came that guy with long black hair. Eiji caught a glimpse of his blue eyes. He certainly didn’t look that way but Eiji was sure it was Ash that just stepped into his apartment.

“Can I take a shower?”, the guy asked.

Eiji should refuse. He should kick him out because he still _couldn’t_ be sure who that was. Instead Eiji pointed to the door of his bathroom.

“Join me?”, the black-haired questioned further.

In an instant Eiji was red-faced and he shook his head vehemently.

The guy smiled handsomely: “Suit yourself…”

This ended the conversation. The guy stepped into the bathroom and soon enough Eiji could hear the soft noise of the water from the shower. Somehow Eiji walked back to his room on autopilot. He grabbed his phone and informed Ibe not to come today.

After a while the stranger came into the room. Upon turning around Eiji was met with long, blond hair and beautiful emerald eyes. Eiji tried to say something but no sound left his mouth.

“I feel much better now, without all that stuff.”, the guy said. Again, Eiji tried to react verbally to that but as always it didn’t go well, so instead he grabbed his tablet and wrote something down while the guy confusedly watched him.

‘Is that you, Ash?’, the device voiced out what Eiji had written down.

“Err… yes.”, Ash confirmed, “Eiji, why don’t you talk to me like you normally would?”

Eiji wrote a little more enthusiastically: “You should be dead though!!!”

Ash nodded softly: “Yeah, I should be. After I went back to the library, I came up with the idea that I should fake my death before leaving. Since I was already wounded, I laid down there and waited for a while so that some blood could be left behind. Then I contacted Sing so that he can cover things up for me and get some articles out and then pick up my ‘dead’ body before someone examines it closely. Since I knew it would take some time to get an ID and the possibility to leave without being caught by anyone, I also asked him to tell you that I died that night. Then many things happened and finally I got to go to Japan.”

‘What was that disguise for then if you had a new identity?’, Eiji let the tablet speak out what he wrote.

“Ibe wouldn’t like me to come back into your life so I had to get creative. It’s not much though, just some washable hair color and some contacts. I’m very surprised he didn’t know right away when he surprised me in my apartment yesterday.”, Ash explained, “You still avoided my question though. What is that with you not speaking to me?”

Eiji once again wrote something on the tablet: ‘I can’t. The last time I got a word out was at the airport when we just came back.’

Ash thought for a few minutes until he seemed to understand.

“Aphonia?”, he asked. Eiji nodded as an answer. Ash stepped behind him and hugged him slightly.

“Good news is I know a guy that healed a little girl with that before. I will talk to him and we’ll get your voice back.”, Ash said full of emotion.

After some time, he let Eiji go and contacted someone on the phone. Eiji wasn’t paying attention. He just looked at Ash and tried to get to terms with everything. He just heard something about a Psync or something. Then Ash motioned for Eiji to get up and get ready to leave the house.

Not much later they arrived at a police station. Ash talked to one of the policemen at the front desk and then took Eiji’s hand and pulled him along. They got into an elevator and Ash pressed on a button. The elevator moved down for some time until the doors finally opened again. Arriving in a longer hallway, Ash moved them to a room on the right. The plate on the door stated ‘Kuranushi Shizue’.

“Kuranushi-san, do you have a minute?”, Ash asked upon entering.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard everything already.”, a woman sitting on the desk said. The room was full of different stuff that seemed to have the purpose on making it more colorful but the effect it really had was that you didn’t really know where to look. “Date should be in the Psync room already. Just go meet up with him.”, the woman continued.

Ash nodded at that and dragged Eiji back into the hallway and to another room at the end of it. This room was full of monitors and seemed all in all very high tech. Behind the monitors on a table was a big window with a straight view into another room with a strange machine.

“… I mean I can try but with Mizuki I actually had it a little easier since I know her. Don’t you want to do it yourself. You do this job for a year now, too.”, a man was talking to Ash at the moment. Then the stranger turned to Eiji.

“Hey there. I’m Kaname Date. Just Date is fine. We would like to try accessing your dream state to get you to talk again.”, the stranger, Date apparently, explained.

Eiji eyed him confused. Accessing someone’s dream state…?

“What he means is that this machine down there can let someone access a dream and you can try and get mental locks out of the way to eventually get information or to improve one’s mental state.”, Ash answered to Eiji’s thoughts, “And you might be right about it being better for me to just try it, Date, now that I think about it. Even with Aiba as your helper I’m not really convinced you wouldn’t do something strange in there…”

“I’d never!”, Date protested but signalized for Ash to go on then.

Ash moved Eiji to the room with the machine through the door on the left. He motioned Eiji to sit on a chair of the machine.

“Okay, Eiji, you need to keep calm and let me handle this. It will be over soon enough and then we can go get something to eat or so, okay?”, Ash said to him. Eiji nodded confused but fully trusting Ash on this.

Ash nodded back and moved to the other seat and told this Date guy and another one that was standing at the window to start this thing up. Something like a 3D gear got laid over Eiji’s eyes and he started to feel sleepy.

When Eiji woke up Ash just came around the machine to him.

“Hey there.”, he said softly.

“Hey.”, Eiji answered on reflex. His voice was rough but it was there. Surprised he looked down on himself and back up at Ash who was smiling brighter than the sun.

Eiji jumped up from the seat and hugged Ash on autopilot. Ash laughed a little.

When they got back to the apartment after eating at a fast-food restaurant and talking for a long time, Ibe was standing outside. Upon seeing them he quickly approached.

He just wanted to say something when Eiji interrupted him: “Ibe-san, can we do this inside?”

Ibe nodded surprised and followed them into the apartment. Eiji and Ash took turns telling Ibe everything. After they finished their explanation, Ash suspected to get thrown out by Ibe (but he also had the full intention on just returning to his apartment and disguise himself for next time). Ibe stayed silent though.

Only after a while he said: “Thank you for giving Eiji his voice back. I’ll be leaving now.”

With that Ibe really went out the door and left them behind. Instantly Eiji grabbed his tablet and pencil.

“What are you doing? You don’t need that anymore, right?”, Ash asked slightly amused.

“Just stay right there and wait.”, Eiji said instead and got to work.

After about ten minutes he sat himself closer to Ash and gave him the tablet. Ash looked at the drawing, a drawing of himself and a quite detailed one at that, astounded.

“This is amazing, Eiji! Do you have more?”, he finally exclaimed after a while.

Eiji smiled and showed him some more of the artworks he did so far. Many of those were of Ash from all those pictures he had as a reference. Ash laughed at most of them claiming that Eiji really should have gotten himself a better object to draw.

“But I had the best object so why look for something else?”, Eiji then said.

Ash looked at him surprised and then started leaning in. When Eiji didn’t move away, Ash grabbed his jaw and tilted his head a little and then their lips finally met in the kiss both of them had wanted for a long time. For both of them pictures and moments they had together started overflowing their minds. There were sad moments like how Skip died or how Ash had to make the choice to shoot their dear friend Shorter but also happy moments they shared when they had lived together. And both of them knew that now there would be more moments together to come and one can only hope they would be much better than the ones they already shared.

“By the way, Eiji, I’d really need some more help learning Japanese since I’m sure Boss would appreciate it if I could talk her language for a change!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys,   
> this is my first posted English story. I had posted some stories on German fanfiction a few years ago (I think the last update was in 2015/16) and since then I never finished my stories that I started in English because there was always something holding me up.   
> I really wanted to get back to it at some point so I decided that another one of my ideas should just get posted already. Since I do not really trust myself with longer stories I just cut this one short (so it may seem a little rushed, I'm sorry) so that I can get it into a one shot.   
> Hope you enjoy this piece anyway! 
> 
> For all of those wondering what this whole "Psync"-thing was about - I have that from a game called "AI the Somnium Files" and I cannot recommend it enough!


End file.
